Love, Rome, Corrupt
by War of Glass
Summary: Beckett is a gladiator, Jade is his queen, who has to watch helplessly as the king has Beckett fight in a gauntlet until he falls dead, punishment for learning of their affair. :Oneshot:


Love, Rome, Corrupt

Chapter 1 "To the End"

Have you ever seen the dawn of death? Have you ever felt it arrive and breathe down your neck, tickling at your spine, whispering to you, whispering that it's time to go? It's all I can think about. I look up at her, tears in her eyes, and I know that I won't be leaving this arena with her tonight, and I never will again. The king caught us in his bed one night, and here I am, fighting a gauntlet from which I will not rise. I will die here in this sand tonight. I will die with all of the people's eyes on me, his eyes on me, but more importantly, her eyes on me. I will die, but I will die honorably. I will die with her heart in my hands, and mine in hers. I have my sword and my shield, but no shield is as strong as her arms, arms that do not hold me now. The gate lowers and the cheers erupt in the bright sunlight. The crowd is split into cheers and jeers at my disheveled look, the beard upon my face, the long, greasy hair that obstructs my view. But they do not understand that I do not wish to see them, or with my eyes at all, for every time I close them, I can still see her…and that's all I need. I lift my shield to my upper torso and keep my sword stiff at my side as I slowly walk into the middle of the arena. My boots walk across dried blood deep in the sand and bits of flesh and bone. My tattered clothes flow freely in the wind, which expose the cuts and bruises on my body. It shows that the king had his men assault me last night, and the night before that, and all of the nights that I've been held prisoner. Though I cannot hear her, I know she sobs at the sight of them. She stands up there, crying right next to the man who has killed me. He has no joy in his eyes. He has no anger, nor vengeance, only focus. I avoid her eyes as I take my place in the center of the stadium, looking at the blood beneath my feet. The king raises a tight fist into the air. The crowd grows silent with anticipation. They hate the wait, they want to see blood. They want to see me fall. A thumb breaks free of the fist, and the crowd goes, "ah," and then the thumb points towards Hell, and the crowd goes, "oh", but I barely hear their chants when she gasps and throws her hand to her mouth.

Women flash their breasts to me, some saggy, some perky, and men extend their hands and try and offer me alcohol as a last present on my way out of this world, some men even offer their wives, who are not hesitant to consent. The gates on the other end of the arena lower and two men come out with armor thick enough to last them a lifetime of war, and with weapons big enough to crush God. One scurries towards me, thrusting his spear at my face. It cuts my hair as I dodge it, hitting the man in his armored rib with my elbow. He tries to kick me in my stomach but I throw up my shield and he kicks me to the ground, where the other gladiator slashes his sword at me, but I roll away and sand puffs into the air, blinding us all. I yell as I wildly fling my weapon left and right, hoping to hit at least something. The fact that I will not leave here today echoes in my mind and sounds off in my blade, I hit something. The sword is stuck in the man's golden mask. No matter how hard I tug and pull it won't budge. I can hear a ghostly laugh from inside the mask as he flings his head to the right, forcing the sword to hit me and knock me back down. The other man yet again tries to strike me when I'm down, but my shield is again a savior. I see they have a tactic, and so will I. Grabbing a hand full of sand into my leather glove, I throw it into their faces and get up, having the opportunity to strike and I take it, to no avail. My sword and his spear collide, and I let him take me to the ground once more. The gladiator with the sword plunges his weapon down on me. I fling the shield onto my back and turn onto my stomach. I switch the sword to my left hand as fast as I can and slash at the man's ankle, cutting it off. He screams and saliva dangles from his open, anguish-torn mouth. I rise and as the spear-wielding gladiator jabs at me, I push off of my feet and fly into the spear with my shield at my back. It breaks the tip of the spear and I fall into my foe. The crowd cheers as intense as the beating sun as we all lie on the ground. They shout things such as, "Get up, get up!" as they wait to see who is alive through the fog of dust.

When the sand clear into the air, the first thing they see is me dragging the gladiator with one foot towards his ally. They cheer loudly as I struggle. I toss him next to the mask wearing one, and I grip my sword as tight as I can. I look up at the king and his queen, who has her hands to her bosom in worry. The king mouths nothing to me, nor has any offensive gestures. He only looks on as I plunge into the footless man's chest. The lewd, rowdy crowd's cheers are deafening. It sickens me how they thrive on this blood more than the gladiators and warriors do. I have to twist and work my sword out of his chest, because it broke through flesh, muscle, bone, and right out of his back into the sand below. "God," I say as I stumble back, the sword bloody and disgusting. The mask wearer crawls away, trying not to retrieve his spear near the barrier, but to simply save his life. I stalk closely behind. He sees my shadow overtake his and he turns around to my overbearing sight. He gasps as I raise my sword. "Why don't you laugh now, warrior? Laugh now," I taunt, lunging the sword through the mask straight into his face, the people all around clap and cheer. Some unruly ones make love there right in the seats, others drink their minds away with poison and burn their minds with drugs. One of my gloves is torn and useless, so I take the little time I have to rip it off and throw it to the ground. Five more men make their way into the arena, with weapons, as always, big enough to destroy Heaven and angels alike. I let my shield fall from my back to the ground below, where I readjust it onto my arm. I stare each and every one of them in their eyes before I run towards them with my weapon raised, and they begin to run as well. I flicker my eyes to the girl high above and I remember of the night I sealed my fate.

_I look out at the menacing sea from the beach, serene and tranquil under the night. I wipe the grime from my blade and set it onto a blanket. I then take my gauntlets and wipe them with a rag inside and out. _

"_Gladiator Beckett," I hear come from behind me. I turn to see Jade. _

"_My queen," I greet. "What beckons you to the beach this late in the night?"_

"_Yearn of your gentle touch beckons me."_

_I turn from my equipment and set the rag down on the blanket beside them. She walks across the damp sand of the beach, a robe and scarf around her. "My king has retired for the night. He wouldn't wake if I blew a horn into his ear."_

"_That doesn't give us right to continue our affair, my queen. We were nearly caught last time."_

_She walks over to me. She takes my hand and puts it to her breast, which the robe covers. "I love you, and you love me. It has been that way for years now."_

"_I can never be your king."_

"_I don't want you to be the king, I want you to be you. If I wanted my king, I wouldn't be here, now would I?"_

"_If I may say so without being out of order, my queen, you are poorly misguided when you speak of loving me. This is a quest of lust, nothing more but pure pleasure of the flesh."_

"_That's what it was years ago, but we have a bond now, do we not?"_

"_I…I would say we do, yes."_

"_Take me," She whispers, kissing my lips tenderly._

"_As much as I desire it, you can never be mine."_

"_In the long run, I can never be yours. But tonight…I can be yours forever."_

_She removes her hands from my face as we kiss, and she pulls a string tying her robe together. She lets it fall onto the sand as she wraps her arms around me and I descend her to the blanket, pushing my equipment off to the side. I put her onto her back and she smiles sweetly at me. I bring my mouth close to her neck and kiss faintly. She pants at the hot breath there, and she claws into my back. She moans as soon as the waves crash against the war and merchant ships down by the dock. Her hands curl against her thighs as she contained the heat burning right under her skin, threatening to set her on fire. I kiss her stomach, and kiss her navel. I take her leg and straighten it, running my lips down the length of her leg. She stares into my eyes, silently daring me to look away as I disrobe swiftly. I don't take her up on that dare. I kiss her on the lips again, and then run it along to her ear, where I nibble on the lobe. Before she expects it, we are one. She gasps and throws her head back a little bit too hard, but she doesn't mind the pain since the pleasure is blinding. Her fingers tenderly run across my scarred abdomen. We move as slow as the ocean before us, some might even say mimicking it, motion to motion. The moment's perfect, and she is right, she is mine forever tonight, just for this one moment, this one moment of bliss. A gasp not from her sounds and frightens us both. We turn to see one of the king's men looking at us, his eyes wide and his mouth gaping. I take off running after him, slipping in the sand. Queen Jade watches in fear that feels like slow motion as I take off after the man who will expose my affair with the queen. _

I raise the gladiator's decapitated head to the audience, and they give me a standing ovation. With blood splattered on my face, I look up at the king and queen. She looks at me like I'm a stranger. He looks at me like he's known me since I was a boy. I let go of the head and fall to one knee, weakened, bloody, and nearly broken. My shield is splitting in two and I can barely lift my sword. As I draw in a breath, ten more men find their way from the pits into the arena, where many men already lie. I lift myself up with whatever strength I have left, and I arm myself. Charging at the men, I take a few down, stabbing one in the throat as he swings his chained mace at me, forcing it to smash another's face in. I kick one in the stomach which pushes him into the sword of another, of who I decapitate with a simply swing. One of them grabs me from behind and restricts me as one cracks his fist across my jaw, jarring me to the ground. As they attack me again, I take a dagger from the inside of my boot and stab the wrists of one of the men, and use the handle of my sword to break the other's nose. I rise and cut one's arm off, only to have the other hit me in the back of the head with his shield, sending me to the ground again. Luckily for me, the sand puffs up and the dust blinds everyone again. The pain is so intense I can barely see, I can barely hear. As I collapse to the sand, I aim my sword at a gladiator and it strikes him in the heart. I lean on him as he dies standing. The crowd is silent, the remaining gladiators are silent, only the queen, _my _queen sobs loudly, and it's for me. Finally the gladiator stumbles onto his knees and falls backwards. In my weakness, I can do nothing but fall down with him.

We lie on top of each other motionless. I push myself weakly off of him and fall onto my back in the warm sand. The gladiators begin to surround me with spears and swords all pointing in my face and at my neck. One of them waves his hand and signals them to retreat, which they do. I don't have the strength to remove my sword from the dead man's chest, so I grab the one in his hand and try to rise once more to my feet, staring the gladiator in the eyes. I can't even raise the weapon completely and I fall back onto my knees in the sand. Everything is still silent, except for when Queen Jade screams and runs to grab a guard's bow and arrow. She is foolishly trying to save me. She won't have the time, and it won't save me from the others, unless she was able to buy me enough time. Then from out of the crowd, a group of vigilantes with bow and arrows shout and begin to aim their weapons. Jade has set up a rescue attempt, but I fear it may be too late. She aims hers at the man with the raised sword ready to execute me and her vigilante allies try to get clear shots at the rest of the gladiators. Her husband tries to hold her back but he is hit with an arrow from the midst of the crowd, and he stumbles back and falls from his high viewpoint to the sand far below, down here with us. Jade tries to get a clear aim as do the vigilantes, but like I said, I fear they have no time. I close my eyes and imagine the possibilities that were in our future, what kind of simple life we could have had. I smile, knowing that I fought to the bitter end for her. I hear her release the arrow, but I'm not sure she's quick enough.

**A/N-Please read and review**


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